Article

David Donnell

Published Online November 10, 2008

Last Edited December 15, 2013

David Donnell, poet, writer (b at St Mary's, Ont 1939). Donnell published his first poetry collection, Poems, in 1961. His second volume, The Blue Sky, appeared in 1977. He received the Canadian Comic Poet Award in 1981, and the GOVERNOR GENERAL'S AWARD for Poetry in 1983 for Settlements.

Donnell, David

David Donnell, poet, writer (b at St Mary's, Ont 1939). Donnell published his first poetry collection, Poems, in 1961. His second volume, The Blue Sky, appeared in 1977. He received the Canadian Comic Poet Award in 1981, and the GOVERNOR GENERAL'S AWARD for Poetry in 1983 for Settlements. David Donnell's poetry is accessible, pulsing with the realities of home, street and working life.

David Donnell has also published the prose works Hemingway in Toronto: A Post Modern Tribute (1982) and a collection of short fiction, The Blue Ontario Hemingway Boat Race (1985). His book of poems Water Street Days was published in 1989. With his next book of poems, China Blues: Poems and Stories (1992), Donnell's engaging rhythms and subtle energy earned him further praise. China Blues won the City of Toronto Book Award. Dancing in the Dark, Poems and Stories appeared in 1996, followed by Sometimes a Great Notion in 2004. David Donnell lives in Toronto and has written songs that have been performed in Toronto bars and at the Music Gallery.